"Shared Parenting" – Engaging Parents in Family Therapeutic Group Homes

Research has shown that an ongoing relationship and involvement of parents in decisions and daily life of their children are dominant factors contributing to positive outcomes among children at risk placed in residential care. At Orr Shalom Family Therapeutic Group Homes, we strive to create an atmosphere and framework welcoming and engaging the children`s parents. We promote regular family visits in our homes, and pursue a collaborative and therapeutic relationship between the social worker, staff members and the parents.

In the workshop, we will present the complex challenges of building a working alliance and promoting change with the children`s parents. Most of the parents have their own histories of child and/or adult trauma, and deal with difficult life circumstances all of which affect the parents` ability to regulate emotion, maintain physical and mental health, engage in relationships, parent effectively, maintain family stability and engage effectively with the professionals caring for their children. We will elaborate from our clinical experience, the lessons learnt on meeting these challenges. A clinical case presentation will demonstrate how the relentless and respectful work of the home social worker was life changing for the relationship between mother and son, both carrying a history of traumas, and allowed for the formation of beneficial "shared parenting" with the home staff.